The Courier Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out The Courier is in limited theatrical release and will hit PVOD on Friday, April 16. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Over a year since it debuted at Sundance, Cold War drama The Courier is finally seeing the light of day. Directed by Dominic Cooke, and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, this true tale of an unassuming British businessman-turned-invaluable spy may run through more than a few typical and predictable beats, but overall it's a triumph of performance and palpable tension. In the months before the Cuban Missile Crisis, unassuming salesman Greville Wynne (what a name!) -- Cumberbatch, as a paunchy schmoozer/boozer -- is asked by Her Majesty's Government and the CIA (represented by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's Rachel Brosnahan) to make contact with a Soviet colonel who longs to thwart the mad reign of Khrushchev, for fear his country will instigate nuclear armageddon. The Courier successfully whittles a very large story down to size, focusing mostly on the interpersonal relationship between Greville and said colonel, Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze). Cumberbatch and Georgian actor Ninidze create a bond that charges the film with emotion, playing two family men who just want to make sure their wives and children aren't obliterated by blustering brutes playing at war. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/27/the-courier-official-trailer"] Ninidze, sadly, is removed somewhat from the third act of The Courier, for good reason (yet, it still robs the film of some weight in the final lap), but Cumberbatch is able to shine throughout as Greville, a humble citizen who finds himself more instilled with pride and heroism as his trips to the Soviet Union grow more frequent. Detrimentally so, of course, given Grevile's fate, but it's still an exciting transformation to experience and Cumberbatch is dynamite here. Cold War-era espionage, with its high stakes and simple no-frills tech, is a playground for paranoia and intrigue. It can be fascinating to look at the lengths we once had to go to obtain, and transport, information in the name of saving the world, and The Courier uses this backdrop to pressure cooker perfection. With little more than patience, diligence, and preparedness, Greville and Oleg are able to shuffle enough classified intel out of a country, where anyone at any time could be eyes for the enemy, and aid in the miraculous diffusion of a world on the brink. Cumberbatch's Greville, based on the real-life Greville Wynne, is a man who, while increasingly noble, becomes addicted to the thrill of spycraft. It's a flaw, but never one that overshadows the ultimate good he's doing. You can feel his craving for the craft growing after each winning mission and Cumberbatch cooly casts a spell here where you root for Greville while he sheds his soused, glad-handing ways for a new life as a man where his old personality becomes merely a cover. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/11/the-courier-exclusive-official-clip"] Unfortunately, Greville, as an ordinary citizen, has things to lose. Tenured spies know better than to have families waiting back home but Greville reluctantly enters the game with a wife, Sheila (Fargo's Jessie Buckley), and a son. Even if this weren't all based on true events, narratively it signals doom. From a more intimate perspective though, it allows Greville and Oleg, both with everything on the line, to more easily sync their practices and align their principles. Ninidze is also wonderful here, as Oleg, though, as mentioned, the third act goes a bit sideways emotionally and a big part of that is because Ninidze is only used sparingly despite being established as the film's secondary main character.

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